Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 30 – After Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces evacuated many residents from the war zone and placed them in what are known as “temporary accommodation centers.” Now, four years later, officials concede, there are more than 23,000 people in these places (tass.ru/obschestvo/26461721).
Initially, these people were put in municipal hotels and sanatoria in small cities far from Moscow; but over time, most of those in such places have been moved to “old peoples’ homes” and that has become the name that both those living there and those they live among now use to refer to their locations (cherta.media/story/bezhency-v-rossii-pvr-i-pomoshh/).
Never lavishly provided with food and services and often living crowded together in single rooms, the “temporarily” evacuated are at least alive for which they are grateful but increasingly have been provided with a narrower range of food products and some of them would like to return to their homes, moves the authorities have generally blocked.
Because their numbers are small and because they have been put in places few tourists, Western journalists or diplomats are likely to visit, these people have received far less attention than other groups. That makes the compilation of some of the personal tragedies by the Cherta news portal especially valuable.
What will happen to these people in the future remains unclear, and the uncertainty they feel about that defines their lives even more than the shortages and the lack of contact with their families and friends in former homes. Presumably if there is a settlement, some of these people will be able to return home, but even that is uncertain, as the “temporarily” housed admit.
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